Shortly after V and I got back from Hawaii we left for San Francisco Bay Area for V’s job. We stayed with our extremely gracious and wonderful friends in their gorgeous house in Foster City and it was such an amazing 3+ weeks. As much as I love being home again, I find myself missing the bay area, especially when it’s 95F outside.

Things I loved and miss about our time in SF/BA:

• The company! Our hosts were really the best. It was great having two more awesome individuals to share meals and hang out with on a daily basis. It also didn’t hurt that they have the two most adorable cats.
• All the Asian food. I don’t even know where to start. Here are some of the most memorable highlights:
  • Authentic Tianjin baozi – fresh out of the steamer buns that are fluffy and to die for. The owner had a Tianjin accent that V was very entertained by. I was mostly busy eating the baos.
  • Really awesome noodles: noodleosophy in San Mateo was a pleasant surprise. Don’t like the generic American decor fool you. It might not seem authentic but the taste was on point. Loved this more than Xi’An Famous Food. I liked that it was super tasty, but without all the extra grease.
  • Milk tea: I’m partial to HK milk tea, but Cha Express was pretty amazing too. Had one of the Original Yunnan Black Milk Tea after dinner one night and couldn’t fall asleep until 4, but it was totally worth it.
  • Burmese food: We went to Burma Love with friends and it was the first time both V and I had Burmese food. I had heard of it before but never got around to trying it. It wasn’t a surprise that I ended up loving it, since I already love all the cuisines from Burma’s neighbors (e.g. Vietnamese, Yunnan, Indian, etc). My favorite part about Burmese food is how colorful the salads and noodle dishes are. Many of the dishes come with the ingredients beautifully arranged separately and then mixed at table side. The flavor profile of each dish is as complex and beautiful as they look.
• Escaping the summer heat. The bay area weather is like nothing I had experienced before. The chilly mornings felt distinctly fall with temperatures hanging around the low to mid-50s. The few hours in the middle of the day and early afternoons were usually the only times that felt like summer. Sunsets were also later, as I remember having dinner near 8PM and still trying to avoid the sunlight coming through the windows. While the mild weather felt disorienting at first it was unsurprisingly easy to acclimate to. The only downside was I definitely did not pack enough sweatshirts.

The bay area often felt like a different world, but mostly in good ways. Many of our friends asked if we would move out there, and as much as I would love to, the cost of living still feels prohibitively high at the moment. Perhaps one day when we find ourselves sitting on top of a mountain of cash we just might migrate West. Until then, I look forward to our next visit to the land of eternally mild weather and the Asian food mecca.